When the upcoming film adaptation of ’90s Nickelodeon series Are You Afraid of the Dark? was first announced, we had one major question on our minds: Just how is it going to work? Would the film adopt one of the series’ classic stories for the big screen? Would it be an anthology film with a number of stories? Would it feature an entirely original set up? Well, now we have our answer.
It screenwriter Gary Dauberman is writing the script for Are You Afraid of the Dark?, and he recently confirmed that the film will not feature any old stories from the series, but instead will feature a single, original story. That being the case, there will still be elements that will be familiar to fans of the show. “It is a completely original story I came up with, but it still has the Midnight Society and it still has the campfire. It’s still a story being told,” Dauberman told /Film.
Dauberman also revealed that even though the film will be aimed at kids, it’s still going to be dark and legitimately scary, and adults will enjoy it, too. “I didn’t want to age it down too much because for its time, it had some really disturbing episodes and some really dark episodes,” he said. “Not every story the Midnight Society told ended with happily ever after or a person learning their lesson and it will never happen again. I really embraced that side of things and I think it’s been a long time. I think fear is healthy for kids. I don’t think we have to always sand down the edges of things and that’s something I really wanted to do with Are You Afraid of the Dark. I think it is scary and I think kids will be scared watching it at times, and also they’ll laugh at times. I think it’s got a great message. I think it’s got a great heart to it but it is still scary. I think that’s great. I think it’s going to open it up to a wider audience.”
If anyone knows how to make the film scary, it’s Dauberman. In addition to It, he also wrote the screenplays for The Nun and both Annabelle movies. What’s not known is how well he can do horror for kids, but by the sound of things, it doesn’t sound like he’ll be toning down his style very much at all for Are You Afraid of the Dark? So get ready to be traumatized, current young generation!
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is expected to hit theaters on Oct 11, 2019.
